Sunday, June 27, 2010

Illinois' new standards in reading, math - chicagotribune.com

Illinois raises, unifies standards

States are moving toward one nationwide standardized test

Illinois education officials in the last week set new expectations for what every public school student should know in math and reading, joining a national push to create one set of standards.

The change could affect local classrooms as soon as this fall, officials said.

The move sets the stage for new standardized tests to measure students from state to state. Education officials said a new exam won't be ready until 2014.

State leaders and educators created the grade-by-grade guidelines by starting with a key question: What do today's high school graduates need to know when they walk onto a college campus or report for their first day of work?

They then worked backward to determine the skills students should master at every grade level, down to kindergarten. The common standards aim to be clearer, fewer and higher than what most states now require.

Here are a few examples of what Illinois now expects high schoolers to know before graduation:

MATH

Number systems: Explain why the sum or product of two rational numbers is rational; that the sum of a rational number and an irrational number is irrational; and that the product of a nonzero rational number

Latest stories

Illinois raises, unifies standards	Teen's award-winning poem helps rewrite her life
Home alone tips for kids from the Red Cross	Principal's new assignment: Fix CPS special ed program
Illinois backs common standards for math, reading	Most likely to inspire
Tips for the phone, the door, the kitchen, emergencies	House Speaker Michael Madigan swayed University of Illinois to admit relatives of allies, donors
Is your child ready to stay home alone? Here's what to look for	NIU offers advice on coping with tragedy
For middle-grades kids, staying home alone a big question	U. of I. picks president

The Answer Sheet - Scary things in U.S. report on school vouchers

Scary things in U.S. report on school vouchers

This isn’t actually about vouchers. It’s about a new government report(pdf) on a school vouchers program in Washington, D.C., that reveals just how perversely narrow our view of “student achievement” has become.

Issued this week by the Education Department, the report is the final evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program ordered by Congress.

The program was the first federally funded private school voucher program in the country. Since 2004, more than 3,700 students -- most of them black or Hispanic -- have been awarded scholarships, each worth up to $7,500 tuition. Since Congress refused to reauthorize the program, no new students are being accepted.

The new evaluation of the program is remarkable for how it describes student achievement. It says: “There is no conclusive evidence that the OSP affected student achievement.”

What is student achievement? In this report it is all about standardized test scores. The evaluation says:

“On average, after at least four years students who were offered (or used) scholarships had reading and math test scores that were

NYC success suggests better fix for urban high schools

Urban high schools throughout the country are, on average, very bad. They are full of confused teenagers who are often not well taught and given little of the support and structure they need to learn. Several D.C. high schools are under new leadership now, as Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has installed new principals. But they are trying, as edlharris recommended, to turnaround their entire schools, grades 9 to 12, at the same time. The results so far are not impressive.

Continue reading this post »

Capital Gains short of cash

Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee says that she's ready to continue the District's two-year experiment with paying middle schoolers as much as $100 a month for good grades, behavior and attendance, but only if she can find the money.

Data from the first year (2008-09) of the Capital Gains program, a joint venture with Harvard economist Roland Fryer, showed higher reading test scores for Hispanics, boys and students with behavior problems. Rhee said in April that she wanted to see 2009-10 results before making a decision on renewing the initiative, which cost the District about $1.2 million this past year. But now she says she's ready to continue on the basis of year one results, and that even if the second-year data is "flat or not moving the ball forward" the program is worth pursuing.

"The biggest issue is money," Rhee said, adding that DCPS is looking for private grants to fill in the funding gap.

The District has some time to line up financing, she said, because the program, which involves about 3,000 middle school students at 15 schools, usually doesn't get up and running until early to mid-October.

Follow D.C. Schools Insider every day atwashingtonpost.com/dcschools.

NYC Public School Parents: Rotunno and JFK High School Investigations: A History

NYC Public School Parents

Independent voices of New York City public school parents

NYC Public School Parents: Rotunno and JFK High School Investigations: A History

Rotunno and JFK High School Investigations: A History

The blog JD2718 has provided a disturbing history of investigations into alleged cheating and corruption at JFK High School. It was written by Lynne Winderbaum, former UFT chapter leader at JFK and Bronx district representative.

What I find especially concerning is that several of the investigations were never officially closed and there only appear to be consequences for those who brought their concerns to the investigators.

Computer programs replace foreign language teachers in N.J. classrooms after budget cuts | NJ.com

Computer programs replace foreign language teachers in N.J. classrooms after budget cuts

Ridgewood fourth-graders learning Spanish on Rosetta Stone

By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger

June 27, 2010, 7:00AM

Ridgewood saved just under $200,000 by cutting three Spanish teaching positions Full story »

Comments (10) Recommend (0)

Fantasia gives free concert in Newark park to support school choice bill

By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger

June 26, 2010, 5:08PM

Concert was held in support of Opportunity Scholarship Act Full story »

Comments (17) Recommend (0)

Princeton's vast thesis library provides a glimpse into the young minds of celebrities

By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

June 26, 2010, 8:40AM

Visitors to Princeton's library can read the senior theses of Michelle Obama, Tom Kean, Ralph Nader and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Full story »

Comments (7) Recommend (0)

School Tech Connect: The Great Zombie Lie of American Education

The Great Zombie Lie of American Education Please remember this the next time someone is telling you how bad American education models are: The above clip is from p. 21; read the whole thing. Krashen has long been writing about the real dragon, poverty. Please don't be lulled into the belief ...

Let Them Sing It For You This is totally my favorite thing coming out of ISTE 2010 so far, but don't they know I need everything to have an embedding feature?

The Only Thing That Matters Now Is Choice Have I not been saying this exact thing for about a year now? Clearly Valerie has been reading these pages. Bwah! Of course she hasn't. I steal half my stuff from her. The thing that really irked me was the Charles Murray goalpost-changer in the ...

Headmaster beheaded, schools torched in Afghanistan

Kazakhstan News.Net
Sunday 27th June, 2010 (IANS)

Suspected Taliban militants beheaded a headmaster and torched two schools in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

Sakandar Shah Mohammadi, head of Al Berooni School in Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province was beheaded Saturday, the education ministry said in a statement.

On the same day, dozens of militants, riding on motorbikes, came to Zardalo area of the district and torched two elementary schools, Muhibullah Khepilwak, district governor, said. One of the schools was a girls' school and the other for boys.

The Taliban, which was driven from power in late 2001 in a military invasion led by the US, have yet to comment on the incidents.

During its 1996-2001 reign, the Taliban banned all girls schools in the country. Women were not allowed to be seen in public, unless covered from head to toe by veil and accompanied by male members of their families.

The Afghan government and NATO blames the Taliban for the destruction of dozens of schools and the death of students and teachers since the invasion.

Taliban spokesmen say the group's leadership has, in a recent guideline, instructed its militants to refrain from attacking educational institutions and harming civilians.

Saturday's attacks came two days after police in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan found 11 beheaded men in Khan Uruzgan district of the province. Although the provincial authorities blamed Taliban for the killings, officials in the interior ministry said they were still investigating.

Today’s Oil Spill Links | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Today’s Oil Spill Links Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites To Learn About The Gulf Oil Spill: The Washington Post has an interesting interactive graphic showing how much money oil and gas companies have contributed to Congresspeople who are investigating the ...

“12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made Interactive” 12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made Interactive is quite an impressive production from Scientific American. It has a multimedia interactive presentation on…12 events that they think will change everything. One of the events is ...

Resources On Canada Canada Day is July 1st (which I was just reminded of by a tweet from Sean Banville). Because of that, I’ve just revised and updated The Best Sites To Learn About Canada. Here are two new additions to that list: Sean Banville has created a Canada Day .

Must-win school jackpot - The Boston Globe

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Must-win school jackpot

“If I win, I’ll try to be humble,’’ Schanna James Lender said. “I’ll resist the urge to jump up and scream.’’ (By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Columnist)

Minuteman wages campaign to boost image beyond trades

Katherine Breen was appalled when her son announced that he wanted to attend Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington. (By Jennifer Fenn Lefferts, Globe Correspondent)

Applause for schools keeping music at core

Whether it’s marching band, jazz, choir, or music theory, if you offer it they will play. (By Taryn Plumb, Globe Correspondent)

Principal to take his final leave

Next Wednesday marks the final day for Natick High School principal John Hughes, who retires after working in the Natick schools for 40 years. (By Megan McKee, Globe Correspondent)

Focus groups will discuss Boston schools, but some object

The Boston public schools will hold 14 focus groups across the city today and tomorrow to gather advice on school closings, program expansions, and other pressing issues, with participation by invitation only. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Palin Stirs Things Up at California University Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

How Many Graduates Does It Take to Be No. 1?

By WINNIE HU

Richard M. Hackett/The Longmont Times-Call

Ten students at Lyons High School in Colorado shared top ranking this year as co-valedictorians.

The valedictorian is losing its meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A high school student.

Post a Comment | Read (143)

WORK AND PLAY Pedro Santana, principal of Middle School 391 in the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx, at the eighth-grade prom.

The Principal’s Office

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

Students call Middle School 391 a “Lean on Me” school, but instead of a principal with a bullhorn, they got one who deploys white office curtains and even irons their shirts.

Slide Show » | Video: Eighth Grade Prom? »

California State University, Stanislaus, has drawn criticism over Sarah Palin's appearance at a fund-raiser.

Palin Stirs Things Up at California University

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sarah Palin leveled criticism at California’s attorney general and others raising questions about her visit to cash-strapped California State University, Stanislaus.